Album Details

• Artist: The Body
• Album: The Body
• Label: At A Loss
• Year of Release: 2004
• Original Release: 2012
• ME Rating: Indie Classic
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2012-08-04

The reissue of this legendary beast is more than welcome. The Body's first full-length came out in 2004, and has been spoken of and remembered with awe and bewilderment ever since. Though the Body has moved somewhat away from this kind of consistently abrasive sound, they have remained as daring and enigmatic as they were when they came out of the gate with that 1999 tape and this staggering debut record.

All seven tracks feature a leisurely but massive drone, meant to be played loud and often, since each song has many hidden colors that might be missed at first blush. I'm thinking of the brooding "()" which, while stark and minimal, builds to an overwhelming payoff. In contrast, songs like "The City Of The Magnificent Jewel" and "The Mother And Tomb Of All Things" are more sludgy, but with a menacing hardcore underbelly. These and other tracks here have an angry subtext that The Body have explored rarely express as often as other aspects of their daring, enveloping, expansive music. There is a welcome edge here. And needless to say, the fourteen minute closer, the unhinged classic "Final Words," makes the world a better place by getting back on people's radar.

Throughout "The Body," Chip King's guitar and muffled screech are the foundation, as it is today with The Body. The band that came roaring out of Providence almost ten years ago is still raging on with a massive, droning  psych and sludge sound; they set the bar high right from the beginning, as this reissue more than proves.

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